Chamberlain, South Dakota.

Her name is Dignity. The Native American woman stands some 50-feet (15 m) tall. Sculpted of stainless steel, “Dignity represents the courage, perseverance and wisdom of the Lakota and Dakota culture in South Dakota,” according to artist Dale Lamphere who used three models of Lakota Native Americans to create the face. If you travel via I-90 through South Dakota, you’ll see Dignity high on a bluff between exits 263 and 265. At her back is the mighty Missouri River, the longest river in North America.

Dignity’s dress is patterned after clothing of the 1850s. She holds a quilt made of stainless steel with 128 blue diamond shapes that glitter with movement in the wind. Lynn and I happened to be heading south to Arizona last winter when we saw her from the Interstate. She was commissioned as a gift to the people of South Dakota in 2014 and construction was completed in 2016. You can read more about this beautiful work of art here.

About the photo: It was a cold day with a biting wind. I didn’t spend a lot of time taking photos considering my lack of appropriate warm weather wear on the mid-November morning. Captured with my Samsung S7 cellphone at f/1.7 1/3000 sec. ISO-50. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner